As per Sportsnet, the Calgary Flames have claimed Lawrence Nycholat off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks. Nycholat became expendable when the Canucks claimed Ossi Vaananen off waivers from the Flyers. This is Nycholat’s third NHL organization this season; he was traded earlier in the year for forward Ryan Shannon.

Nycholat’s been a journeyman AHL defender with good offense for years, and prior to this season he had cups of coffee with Ottawa, Washington, and the New York Rangers. He’s played seventeen games for Vancouver this season, and has superficially good numbers:

2008-09: 14GP – 0G – 1A – 1PT, +3

A quick glance at Behind the Net is a little discouraging. Nycholat’s been playing soft competition and has the lowest PTS/60 and Corsi/60 of any Canucks defenseman, despite his solid plus-minus. A deeper look, using Vic Ferrari’s Time On Ice tool, shows not only that Nycholat was getting massively outshot, but that he had a solid dose of luck. Let’s compare his even-strength numbers to the team average:

Team Average SV%: .929

Nycholat’s On-Ice SV%: .944

Team Average SH%: 8.8

Nycholat’s On-Ice SH%: 12.1%

Nycholat is a reserve defenseman who has gotten pretty lucky this season; those numbers aren’t sustainable, and over the long haul his numbers will show that he really isn’t an NHL defenseman.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.